Okay, he's talking about the black or white depiction of women in Frogwares' Sherlock games, I get that. Angel or Demon. Nothing multifaceted about them, which I assumes means that they've fallen down on showing women as a mixture of both.

But that brings up a question to me about the inherent differences in men and women in games, physical appearance aside. Do we really see a difference in the way men and women think? With the possible exception of Grace in the Gabriel Knight games, I don't believe we do. And there the difference was really somewhat insulting to men - blundering Gabe with his sense of male superiority versus cerebral Grace who let her fingers do the walking, intelligent and ignored by our hero. (I'll leave out the cat fight in GK2. That was really over the top and unworthy of Grace and Jane Jensen.)

Maybe Kate in Syberia could be added to the list. That's two.

Anyway, I don't much care if there is ever a multifaceted woman in an adventure game. I am whoever the protagonist is when I'm playing, man or woman. Or razor-toothed rabbit, for that matter, if I ever get around to Sam and Max. The peripheral characters can be flat and it doesn't bother me; the villain can be one dimensional and I don't care. Look at Dracula, evil to the core and what else would you have him be? If he were she it would be just as appropriate and just as effective to have her a Demon with no redeeming virtues to round her character.

Of course, I haven't played them all so I can't say if most women (of course, I'm talking the main character here) in them have male minds in female bodies or if there is a number of them who are capable of getting the job done without thinking exactly like men.

Then again, do they really need to? Would it make a game easier, more "intuitive" for women and more difficult for men? There's only one way to use a screwdriver or light a fuse, after all.

Gil.

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"Best not to think about it. I don't want to fall to bits 'cos of excess existential thought."

This was interesting to read. I agree that women are stereotyped in games, but I think the men often are too. Look at all those buff mighty heroes in RPGs. There do seem to be more of a variety of male characters in adventure games though. But to be fair, I've played some great female adventurers too: Nancy Drew, April, Kate, and a few others.

I never noticed anything offensive about the females in the Sherlock Holmes games I've played. But I haven't played Jack the Ripper or the latest one.

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"Dragons were never gone. They were just invisible and very, very quiet." ~ M'aiq the Liar (Skyrim)